Ladies, take notice: the Miss Poinciana competition is back!

Michael W. Freeman is a veteran journalist, playwright and author. Born and raised in Fall River, Massachusetts, he has lived in Orlando since 2002. Michael has worked for some of Florida's largest newspapers, including The Orlando Sentinel. His original plays have draw strong audiences at the Orlando Fringe Festival. He is the author of the novels "Bloody Rabbit" and "Koby's New Home."

The first Miss Poinciana Pageant was held on July 27 2012, and three winners were crowned.

POINCIANA – In August, it’s going to be the girls of Poinciana who get put in the spotlight.
“It went over really well last year,” said Melody Nadal. “Last year we had 13 contestants, which was really great for our first year.”
What happened on July 27, 2012 at the Poinciana Community Center was a remarkable achievement for this community of nine villages that cross Polk and Osceola counties: the very first Miss Poinciana Pageant, an event that put the women and girls of Poinciana front and center.
More than 150 people attended the event, which was held in conjunction with Poinciana’s 40th anniversary bash. The pageant was sponsored by the Association of Poinciana Villages, the homeowner’s association that oversees the community’s 10 villages.
Nadal, the pageant’s director, said the pageant is back this year, and the organizers hope to make it bigger and better this time around.
The Second Annual Miss Poinciana Pageant will be held on Friday, Aug. 2, again at the community center on Marigold Avenue.
“It’s going to be the same every year,” Nadal said, adding that there will be one interesting change this year.
“There is going to be a new judging criteria to make the final score,” she said. “It will be one category that will be judged in addition to their points overall.”
More details, she added, would be announced as the pageant date gets closer.
In the meantime, the organizers are eagerly looking for girls of all ages to enter. To do so, just email the pageant at MissPoinciana2013@aol.com.
The age categories are 6 to 12 years old for the Little Miss Poinciana competition, which has a registration fee of $50; 13 to 17 years old for Junior Miss Poinciana, which has a $75 registration fee; and 18 to 25 for Miss Poinciana, which has a $100 registration fee.
“Right now we’re trying to get the girls to enter,” Nadal said. “It went really well last year. The community came together to donate prizes for the winners, and that’s what I want people to know – there are both cash and other prizes.”
Last year, for example, businesses donated jewelry, facials and free classes to the winners, “so there are a lot of nice prizes,” Nadal said.
Nadal is the founder of Poinciana Professionals, a business networking and support group that helps give Poinciana area companies, including many self-employed residents, a way to reach a wider audience across Central Florida. The Poinciana Pros members came up with the idea for the Miss Poinciana Pageant, and then presented it to the APV, which agreed to become the official sponsor of this event.
“We started this to make it our main fund-raiser to help the groups out here,” Nadal said. “Last year our recipient was the Boys and Girls Club/Poinciana Teen Center, and they put the funds to their new sports program.”
A new recipient will be selected this year.
The winners of the first pageant were Jessika Musawwir, who was crowned Miss Poinciana 2013; Kaylee Feliciano, crowned Junior Miss Poinciana 2013; and Abigail Romero, crowned Little Miss Poinciana 2013.
Nadal said they want to continue to grow this pageant, making it bigger and better each year.
“Eventually we would like it to become a preliminary to the Miss Florida competition,” she said. “Last year we had a lot of interest from a lot of the pageants, and we hope to connect it in the future as we build it up.”

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Michael Freeman

Editor and Publisher at Freeline Productions LLCI have 22 years of experience in print journalism, having worked for a decade as a news reporter for an urban daily in Massachusetts, and then as an editor for a 38,000 circulation weekly newspaper in Central Florida. My background ranges from being a general assignment reporter to hiring writers, photographers, graphic artists and web designers. I have a solid background in all aspects of journalism, and now operate an online daily magazine. I belong to that field known as the "team players"; I work best when I can recruit and inspire excellent supporting staff to collaborate with me on projects that deliver solid results. I have have the ability to meet super-tight deadlines, a key ingredient to being successful in this field.